When we don’t have much time to prepare desserts, a Puff Pastry Dessert can come to our rescue! It’s a good item to keep in your freezer.  Don’t bother trying to make puff pastry, unless you really want to, have the time, and are a serious baker. Otherwise just buy it. You can fill puff pastry with savory and sweet things, but this time, we made some simple desserts. We had both puff pastry shells and sheets in our freezer, so we made a simple filling and topped it with fresh fruit. 

Prepping and Baking

Let the pastry thaw completely, either overnight in the refrigerator or for 45 minutes at room temperature before using. It’s easier to work with pastry dough while it’s still cold, so once thawed, use it immediately. If it’s too warm, place it back in the freezer to firm up. Since the pastry shells were round, we made rectangular shapes with the pastry sheets.

Just before baking, brush your puff pastry with an egg glaze (one large egg lightly beaten with about 1 teaspoon water) to give it an attractive sheen. We have mentioned this before; invest in silicone baking sheets to prevent sticking. This is one of the best kitchen investments you can make. You will not have to use foil or parchment paper again for baking.

Puff pastry is at its best fresh out of the oven, so if possible, bake in small batches and serve immediately.  If you are not going to serve your Puff Pastry right away, place them in an airtight container and add the fillings when you’re ready to serve. Puff pastries tend to lose their flakiness and crispness over a few days, so whenever possible, eat them the same day they are baked.

You will have to cut off the tops of the pastry shells and scoop out the inside to make room for the filling, but don’t throw away that small top you just cut off – you can make that into a bite-size dessert as shown in the first photo below. The rectangle shapes will be puffed up so take a small sharp knife and cut just inside the edges on the top so you can scoop out some of the dough to make room for the filling.

The Filling

The filling for a Puff Pastry Dessert should not be too soft or runny, rather, it should be light so not weigh down or flatten the pastry. We made a quick, simple filling since we were pressed for time.

1/2 cup of good Greek yogurt (if it’s good, it will be firm, almost like room temperature cream cheese)

8 ounces 1/3 fat cream cheese, room temperature, but still cool

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

Sweetener of your choice – sweeten to taste

Blend the ingredients with a hand mixer, a whisk or food processor until smooth

Prepare the fruit and set aside – we had black berries and strawberries and also added some bananas

Fill the Puff Pastry

Fill your pastry shells and whatever shapes you have with the cream mixture and leave room to top it off with the fruit. Take a look at the photos below – you want to have just enough filling and berries so don’t overfill them. You want to show the cream in the pastry shells, but not overflowing and be careful with the rectangles since there isn’t much room once you scoop out the insides.

Left-overs

If you have any pieces of puff pastry left over, combine them and roll them out to make palmiers cookies or cheese straws. They won’t puff up as much, but they’ll still taste great!

Take a look at how simple it is to put these desserts together. For those who did not want to indulge in this decadent dessert, just serve the fruit by itself for a healthier dessert.